Gently, Love Me
by Kahel004
Summary: If one is loved, is he Beloved? If one is Beloved, is he loved? Sometimes, it's the simplest things that we overlook and the complicated things that we tend to ignore. Love be thy gift and Beloved be thy harbinger. TomHarry


Something I've had in my folder for years. It's an idea that came into being when I've read almost every 'Harry goes back in time and falls in love with Tom' or the 'Harry was born in the 1930s'. Yeah, I know it's not original. And yes, after you read this story, you might vomit; but I can't help myself. I'm the biggest fanatic of sappy romantic stories-especially for the couple with the tragic background. I also cannot promise you frequent updates-I'm a very stingy writer. I don't just willingly give up words and paragraphs that will in no way whatsoever benefit my ego and will treat every sentence as if they were a gold coin. So no regular updates that I can assure but be confident in the fact that I will do my best to give you the most well-written story this sorry plot can become!

And so here it is, the brainchild of my sappiness and I hope you will come to love it as I have-

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><p><strong>Gently, Love Me<br>**

**by Kahel004**

**Prologue  
><strong>

_Tom Marvolo Riddle never knew the joy of companionship until he met him. _

_Back in the orphanage, everybody stayed away from freaky Tommy Riddle. Unnatural things happened around the boy and the children ostracized him while the caretakers would try to beat the freakishness away from him. Little Tom could do nothing._

_Early in his life he learned that he only had himself to rely on. Friendships were fickle and people would not think twice to stab you in the back if it meant that it would benefit their own selfish needs. So he kept to himself and found comfort in isolation. There would be no one to steal his books and toys, and there would be no more harsh treatment from the adults that were supposed to take care of him._

_He could never fully trust someone else…_

_But when the man with the youthful face and vibrant eyes came _for_ him (Him!) at the orphanage—perhaps, young Riddle thought to himself—that this man would be different from the others. And all traces of doubt were erased when the man smiled at him._

_###_

_It was difficult—trying to make someone how-many-years your senior fall in love with you. It was even more difficult if he was your teacher. But Tom persevered and devoted his interest on the petit man. _

_He vied off other competitors and fought for his attention. He would almost every night try to learn more about him and he would without fail, try to show his affections. Until one day those eyes finally saw him; and there was never a happier time in Riddle's life then. _

_###_

"_Tom?"_

"_Hmm?" '_Did he find it already?'

"_What is this?"_

_The older wizard held up a piece of high grade parchment—bordered with tasteful curls and emitting a faint aroma of lavender and chamomile. A healthy blush was spread across his cheeks and the tips of his ears were red with embarrassment._

_Tom smiled and stood up then walked to the man and wrapped his arms around him. "If you would let me, it is exactly what it is, my cariad."_

_In response, he hid his face into the crook of Tom's neck to hide his spreading blush._

_###_

_From the eager eleven year old that he was before, Tom grew up to be an outstanding young man. However in comparison, his much older lover seemed ageless—trapped forever in time. _

_Riddle didn't seem to mind. It just meant that his lover would always be beautiful._

_###_

"_Tom…"_

_The sixteen year old grinned, showing his perfectly gleaming teeth. He held the other's hand reverently between his while the older wizard blushed prettily at the heirloom on his finger._

"_It's such a beautiful ring… I'm so ashamed I have nothing to give you in return." _

"_I don't expect anything, just continue having me… that's all I need."_

_###_

_His lover was filled with secrets that Tom would have spent the better part of the day revealing. But it was not his position to pry, even if they were soul mates. _

_What was revealed to him was nothing short of shocking and terrifying—his cariad had finally confessed the whole truth to him, a conversation they'd been dodging for a good eight years. To think such horror was to be played by his hand… he couldn't swallow the fact._

_But what had bothered him the most was the death of his dearest lover._

_###_

_Against Tom's capabilities, he hadn't managed to save his beloved from death._

_Tom had been at his bedside when he took his final breath. He saw the silvery wisps of his soul curl up into a glowing orb before his body turned slowly to dust. Tom had tried to reach for the light but his fingers passed through the orb before it also dissipated into the wind along with his beloved's body._

_He cried and cried and cried until tears stopped flowing down his cheeks. He had nothing to grasp to, nothing to mourn for except the memory of his deceased soul mate. Life had never been so cruel to him and there was only one man to blame…_

_Tom knew what he had to do—what his lover would have wanted him to do. He would set out to fulfill destiny and fate will not deny him his love. Even if the world would be ravaged and destroyed, it was a price well paid for forsaking him his heart._

_A blazing inferno burned in this riddle's heart and his gleaming red eyes reflected the fire that burned the place he and his cariad had spent in for the last decade._

###

Translucent fingers swept languidly across the kaleidoscopic waters. Colors of every shade combined to form a malevolent swirl of memories—past, present and future and with every curl, it seemed as if an existence was screaming for its survival.

The Being, whatever creature It was, held itself upon a throne of silver wisps gilded with blinding bolts of energy that seemed to weave itself directly into the flowing robes The Being wore. Hundreds, thousands and millions of thread ran across the chamber where The Being stayed; connecting this and that in the endless reality The Being existed into.

Some would call It Fate, for what is most apt for the one to watch over human's short life? He. She. It. Useless titles for a Supreme Being such as The Being. For what can the Being do but be? Living since the beginning of Time, and before Its birth; Fate had been witness to everything and nothing.

And It had seen the memories of Its Beloved Child—The-One-Whom-Fate-Favours. His beginning, his happening, and his ending. And Fate had been witness to the tragedy of it all.

For someone so lovely, so pure—blessed be the Child of Fate—to meet cruelty; and how a young man had given The-One-Whom-Fate-Favours, what Fate Itself cannot made Fate kneel from Its throne and weep into the Rivers of Existence that flowed from the tresses of Its silken hair. And from the tears of whiteness that sprang forth from the hollow of Fate's eyes, the story that Fate had let run rampant—changed itself into a new destiny which was in no way easier and less saddening, but lovelier.

For what begets the Son of Fate, but be the loveliest of fates there be?

As His story is woven into the walls so does Fate stands on shaky foundation—and falls like drops of sterling silver into the chasm that was before It but then…

Disappears in a flash, as if someone had cut a scene from life itself.

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><p>AN: Short? Because it's a Prologue.  
>*<em>cariad<em> - I've read somewhere before that _cariad_ means beloved or soulmate in Elfin Language. I'm not sure. Do correct me if I'm wrong?


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